In early November, Jay Schreckengost, a respected Deputy Fire Chief in the Seattle Fire Department, went missing on a hunting trip in the mountains of eastern Washington. Suzanne, with K9s Keb and Kili, and Guy supported what would become one of the longest, large-scale search missions in recent history, with hundreds of SAR volunteers responding day after day, to fan out across steep forested terrain in a search area that encompassed over 100 square miles.

Suzanne, K9 Keb, and K9 Kili deployed, along with a dozen other K9 teams from counties across western and eastern Washington, to systematically search forest roads in the remote Milk Creek Drainage. These K9 teams drove for miles over rough and rutted roads just to reach their assigned search areas, then searched all day while recording their travel paths on handheld GPS units. Their efforts contributed significantly to the overall search plan.

Guy served as Planning Section Chief for 11 consecutive days, working closely with the Incident Commander and the Operations Section Chief to plan and execute search strategies and deploy search teams each day. Other members of the Washington State SAR Planning Unit joined on several days to supplement command staffing for this large-scale mission. Volunteers from Central Washington Mountain Rescue, Everett Mountain Rescue, Olympic Mountain Rescue, Seattle Mountain Rescue, and Tacoma Mountain Rescue combined forces to contribute to search efforts.

On November 14^th, the last Sunday of this search, just as we were planning to demobilize, mountain rescue teams located Jay Schreckengost, deceased at the base of a 700-foot-high escarpment. Jay was transported down mountain roads to be met by Seattle Fire Department personnel and by his family members, before being escorted to the Kittitas County Coroner’s Office in Ellensburg.

On Saturday, November 20, on every highway overpass between Ellensburg and Seattle, a fire engine stood watch with lights flashing, as a small solemn procession brought Chief Jay Schreckengost back home.